Content by JayReding
Posted at 5:57pm on Dec. 6, 2005 Peace With Honor: A Modest Proposal
By JayReding
Howard Dean believes that we cannot win the war in Iraq - that we must immediately pull out the majority of our forces in the theatre of operations and redeploy the rest elsewhere. He argues, as Rep. Murtha does, that we should have a force available "over the horizon" to deal with the threat of al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda in Iraq. However, it is quite clear that such a force could not ever act as an effective anti-terrorist force, and such a mission would be all but impossible.
For the sake of argument, let us assume that Dean is right and that the war in Iraq is not a war that we can win. Our current efforts are futile, and we must redeploy our troops away from Iraq and focus our attentions elsewhere.
Read on...
Posted in User Blogs — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:12pm on Nov. 3, 2005 City of Light, Cités Of Darkness
By JayReding
The great and brilliant sociologist James Q. Wilson noted that communities that tolerated small crimes, petty theft, vandalism, and the like were often quickly finding themselves facing worse crimes - and indeed, the last 7 nights of increasingly violent riots in Paris prove his point. The culture of lawlessness in France is paying out its terrible dividend as the ethnic ghettoes of the Parisian banlieues explode into anarchy. The violence in France reminds us that those nations which do not or cannot defend their culture will surely lose it...
Posted in User Blogs — Comments (22) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:30pm on Sep. 22, 2005 A Time To Stand
By JayReding
Bumped up front by Erick.
The Republican Party has always had the reputation of being the party of smaller government - yet in the years where GOP has control of the White House, the Senate, and the House, non-defense discretionary spending has skyrocketed. The Bush Administration's single biggest flaw in terms of domestic policy has been its utter unwillingness to control the rate of growth in government. Bush's tax cuts have helped grow the economy, but the rate of spending - especially the massive fiscal burden of the new Medicare prescription drug entitlement - threaten the fiscal future of this country.
Moreover, they hurt the future of the Republican Party. The three most basic tenets of the GOP since the Reagan Revolution have been 1) rolling back the size and intrusiveness of government, 2) defending the institution of the American family and American civic culture, and 3) a strong national defense. There are tensions between those goals, but they represent the core values of our party, broad principles which all Republicans agree on and aspire to. President Bush is resolute on the third, strong on the second, but has abandoned the first.
Posted in User Blogs — Comments (23) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 11:12am on Sep. 4, 2005 In Memoriam, Chief Justice William Rehnquist
By JayReding
Chief Justice William Hubbs Rehnquist was one of the strongest advocates for the principles of limited government and federalism to serve on the United States Supreme Court in modern times. Rehnquist's determination to uphold the values of limited government had a profound effect on the state of American jurisprudence.
Rehnquist served the Supreme Court of the United States for 33 years, 19 of those as Chief Justice. In that time, Rehnquist made his mark on the history of the Supreme Court, constantly battling to ensure that the Court did not stray from the Constitution.
Rehnquist's majority decision in the Lopez case was a watershed that helped hold back the continual encroachment of federal powers through the misuse of the Commerce Clause. For years, the federal government had been slowly eroding the police powers of the states under the guise of interstate commerce - even when such ties to interstate commerce were tenuous at best. Rehnquist, like all conservatives, viewed such actions as being harmful to the very concept of federalism. Throughout his tenure as a member of the United States Supreme Court, Chief Justice Rehnquist stood firm on the principles of limited government.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist was a determined fighter, right until the end. He stood on his principles, and he was an effective and powerful advocate for the values of conservatism, federalism, and a man who did his duty in defending and protecting the United States Constitution.
He also showed his immense personal strength during his long fight with thyroid cancer. Rehnquist wouldn't let his illness stand in the way of his duties. He saw to it that he would be there on Inauguration Day to swear in President Bush for his final term in office. He continued to work for as long as he could. While Washington was abuzz with rumors of retirement, Chief Justice Rehnquist continued working as long as he was able to do so. One suspects that he wouldn't have had it any other way.
A great chapter in the history of the Supreme Court has been closed. It is time for us to continue the legacy of Chief Justice Rehnquist and continue to stand for the values to which he dedicated his years of public service.
God bless Chief Justice William Rehnquist, and God save our honorable Court.
Posted in Law — Comments (11)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:28am on Jun. 21, 2005 Our Long Twilight Struggle
By JayReding
Vice President Cheney has argued that the insurgency in Iraq is in its "last throes."
Senator John McCain then warns Cheney about making rosy predictions about the future, and argues that we're in for a long, hard slog in Iraq.
With the violence in Iraq continuing and US forces engaging terrorist forces across the country, which view of the future of Iraq is the correct one? As it often does, the truth lies somewhere in between. For more, read on.
Posted in War — Comments (32)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 5:03pm on May 16, 2005 Who Watches The Watchers?
By JayReding
Promoted from Diaries.
The Newsweek Qur'an descration story debacle highlights a problem with the mainstream media today. Newsweek's story was based on heresay an innuendo and was clearly published without consideration of the effect it would have. Newsweek is clearly guilty of shoddy journalism as Scott Johnson of Powerline makes clear.
Beyond that, the Newsweek incident should cause one to question whether or not we truly have an independent press in this country. It's one thing to be free of government interference, it's another thing to have a press that is slavishly adherent to a certain ideological view.
For more, read on:
Posted in User Blogs — Comments (22) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 5:33pm on Apr. 30, 2005 Andrew Sullivan's "Crisis of Faith"
By JayReding
Andrew Sullivan has become infamous of late for his switch from Bush to Kerry, his inflammatory rhetoric about Pope Benedict XVI, and his turn from a gifted neocon writer to someone whose work often resembled the rantings of a Democratic Underground poster.
Fortunately, Sullivan still knows how to craft a cogent argument from time to time, and his response to his critics on the issue of conservatism and faith is much more coherent than some of his later works. At the same time, Sullivan's concept of liberty is less than complete, making his argument less than convincing.
For more, read on:
Posted in Culture — Comments (33)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 1:32pm on Apr. 11, 2005 The Tyranny of the Minority
By JayReding
At Yale Law School, a conference was recently held by a group of "progressives" seeking nothing less than to remake the Consitution in their image by 2020. Powerline has some excellent coverage of the conference including copious notes available here as well as a follow-up here. The official blog of the conference can be found here.
And of course, all this comes from none other than George "Moneybags" Soros' Open Society Initiative (proving that while Soros may claim to be a devotee of Karl Popper, he clearly doesn't understand his philosophies.)
For a group of people that's supposed to understand and embrace the values and philosophies underlying the US Constitution, the conference displays a shocking willingness to totally reject the wisdom of the Founding Fathers and replace it with a "progressive" system that would destroy the concepts of rights and liberties upon which this Republic was founded.
Read on for more.
Posted in Law — Comments (4)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 1:22am on Feb. 10, 2005 Playing God
By JayReding
In the 1939 the Third Reich created a propaganda film called Existence Without Life. This film advocated the systematic murder of those with mental and physical disabilities. Victims of these atrocities were murdered in gas chambers in a chilling preview of the horrors to come. Tens of thousands of disabled persons were murdered by the Third Reich.
While the crimes of the Third Reich are well known, what is less well known is that such actions were heartily supported by many in America. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood wrote, "Fostering the good-for-nothing at the expense of the good is an extreme cruelty... there is no greater curse to posterity than that of bequeathing them an increasing population of imbeciles." Even such well regarded figures as Teddy Roosevelt, H.G. Wells, and George Bernard Shaw regarded eugenics as the only way to prevent what they saw as a crisis to mankind.
As Santayana once astutely stated, those who fail to learn from history are damned to repeat it. Yet it is clear that the eugenics movement is alive and well.
Posted in Culture — Comments (7)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 5:05pm on Jan. 25, 2005 Crossing The Rubicon
By JayReding
In just a few days, the people of Iraq will participate in the first truly free election in the history of that nation. Afghanistan had the first democratic election in history, an election that occurred smoothly and without widespread violence. The people of the Ukraine overwhelmingly came out to support reformist and democrat Viktor Yushchenko over Kremlin-backed autocrat Viktor Yanukovich. In the West Bank and Gaza voters went to the polls to choose their leadership. In the United States, the Second Inaugural Address of George W. Bush made it very clear that the United States will stand strongly for the principles of democratic leadership.
Our world has crossed the Rubicon -- it is now becoming clear that the essential fight of our time is once again a fight between democratization and tyranny, and democratization is winning. For more, read on...